This is part of a series of articles examining what every team’s roster would look like if given only the players it originally signed. I’m compiling the rosters, ranking them and presenting them in a countdown from Nos. 30 to 1.No. 30 – CincinnatiNo. 29 – Kansas CityNo. 28 – San DiegoNo. 27 – MilwaukeeNo. 26 – BaltimoreNo. 25 – Chicago (AL)No. 24 – Chicago (NL)No. 23 – PittsburghNo. 22 – DetroitNo. 21 – Tampa BayNo. 20 – New York (NL)No. 19 – HoustonNo. 18 – OaklandNo. 17 – St. LouisNo. 16 – FloridaNo. 15 – San FranciscoNo. 14 – TexasNo. 13 – ClevelandNo. 12 – MinnesotaNo. 11 – ArizonaNo. 10 – Los Angeles (AL)No. 9 – TorontoNo. 8 – BostonNo. 7 – ColoradoNo. 6 – Montreal/WashingtonNo. 5 – New York (AL)No. 4 – Philadelphia
Once I put all of these rosters down on paper a month ago and started trying to grade them, it was obvious right away that there was a clear top two. After that, it was really hard to separate the next eight teams making up the rest of the top 10. The Braves initially figured into the middle of that pack. That they ended up at No. 3 was in large part due to a 21-year-old who was shipped off by the team before even making it out of Rookie ball.Rotation
Adam Wainwright
Tommy Hanson
Kevin Millwood
Jason Marquis
Kenshin KawakamiBullpen
Neftali Feliz
Dan Meyer
Kris Medlen
Joey Devine
Zach Miner
Joe Nelson
Jo-Jo Reyes
That 21-year-old is Feliz, of course. He’s allowed five hits and one walk in 22 innings for the Rangers, giving this pen a huge boost. Medlen’s emergence hasn’t hurt either, even if his ERA is suddenly back up again because of some dreadful mishandling from manager Bobby Cox.
The rotation is obviously impressive, even with Tom Glavine no longer in the mix. Wainwright is a Cy Young candidate, and Hanson has a 3.07 ERA as a rookie. Even Kawakami has a 3.97 ERA in his 25 starts. He beat out Kyle Davies, Charlie Morton, Reyes and Matt Harrison for the last spot. Jason Schmidt and Chuck James weren’t considered.Lineup
SS Yunel Escobar
LF Mark DeRosa
3B Chipper Jones
C Brian McCann
RF Jermaine Dye
1B Adam LaRoche
CF Andruw Jones
2B Rafael FurcalBench
INF Martin Prado
1B-OF Garrett Jones
OF Jeff Francoeur
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia
SS Elvis Andrus
The lineup is plenty strong and flexible, with only really center field as an area of concern. If Andruw’s body can’t take the pounding these days, then one would have to try Francoeur, Kelly Johnson or Jordan Schafer there. Maybe Jason Heyward next year, though the game’s No. 1 prospect is going to be a right fielder for the Braves.
I put Furcal at second base for defense, but he’s been outplayed by Prado this year and Johnson may also be a better option going forward. Or one could sacrifice some defense and go with DeRosa there, opening up left field for the still red-hot Jones or Francoeur.
Chipper is the mainstay, of course. He’s the only player on one of the top three teams in these rankings to have won a World Series with the club that drafted him.Summary
While it seems like their minor league system hasn’t been as strong in the aughts as it was in the 90’s, the Braves have continued to churn out talent. It’s just too bad so much of it is currently playing in Texas. The Mark Teixeira trade was a huge failure that’s going to handicap the club for years to come. Since their postseason streak ended in 2006, the Braves have won 79, 84 and 72 games. They’re on pace to finish over .500 this year, but they’ve seen their postseason chances drop sharply recently because of their struggles to score runs. Help is on the way in the form of Heyward, first baseman Freddie Freeman and Schafer. The Braves will need to trust their young talent this time, as filling in with veterans just hasn’t worked out very well for them.

I think that Atlanta being this high should be a no-brainer. Wainwright and Feliz would be big pieces for Atlanta right now but all in all, the Braves have been big winners in the trades they have made with their own prospects (Hudson for pennies anyone?). And remember, Atlanta hadn’t had a pick higher than the mid twenties from 1992-2007.